Harvest Poem by Jana Koehn

Harvest time is almost here,
The equipment needs gone through.
Hired men need to be staked down,
And we should be starting in a week or two!

The grain cart needs the tarp put on,
The combine needs some new parts,
Truck trailer needs some work done too.
This stress can't be good on our hearts!

Dad and Mom go to get the truck.
Hired men should soon be here.
But the truck needs new stacks put on,
And harvest time is getting near!

So a quick trip to town is made,
To get the parts we need.
But they don't have it all in stock,
But they will get it here with speed.

The truck part didn't arrive today,
But should come in a day or two.
Meanwhile the co-op needs some corn,
And so a neighborly deed we do.

And haul a few loads to the co-op,
Their need to satisfy.
We'll finish getting stuff ready later,
And meanwhile stress levels are high!

The hired men are here now,
So it's time that we start.
We'll have to borrow the neighbor's truck,
Till we get that truck part.

The truck part did arrive today,
But alas, it was the wrong one!
They say it'll be here tomorrow sure,
But at this rate we won't get anything done!

I guess we'll have to keep using the neighbor's truck,
Since the part didn't show up again
But he'll be needin' it soon i'm sure,
And meanwhile we've got some anxious men!

Now the neighbor needs his truck.
This causes the men to fret.
I guess they'll use our old beater truck,
'Cause they don't have the part on yet!

It's time to take a day off,
And get things fixed up right-
So we can hit it strong again,
If we ever want the end in sight!

Now we can finally cut normally,
But oh, 'Look over there,
Looks like a storm is brewing,
And we were just getting somewhere! '

The storm clouds did bring rain,
But we'll only be stopped for a day.
Then we can hit it hard again,
From morning till we hit the hay.

Harvest time is going well,
And the hired men have agreed to stay.
We should be finished in a day or two,
If everything goes okay.

The weather man says we're gonna get rain,
And oh, we want to complain,
'Cause we wanted to finish harvest,
But we do need the rain!

But there's nothing we can do,
And the rain keeps comin' down.
We've already got an inch or two;
So the boys head for town.

The hired men decide to leave,
And the farmers get cabin fever.
So once it's dried off again, _
There'll be many an eager beaver.

Now its finally dried off.
I guess we'll try our luck,
And see if we can actually cut,
Without getting everything stuck!

Well, though all the breakdowns,
And all the mud and rain,
We've finally finished harvest,
With no need to complain!

(October 30,2008
A true experience of
the harvest of 2008.)